DIY Belay glasses
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Looking to see if anyone has thought about or made homemade belay glasses. Thinking about trying my hand at fashioning a pair. Thinkin about using mirrors rather than prisms like the CU glasses. Let me know y'alls thoughts, ideas, etc. |
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This is how I made my belay glasses in 2 easy steps: |
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I made a pair for about $30. I've been meaning to post a tutorial, but nascent gotten around to it. |
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I made my first pair of belay glasses by buying a pair of "bedtime readers" from Amazon for about $23, cutting the lenses out and gluing them, upside-down on a pair of sturdy readers which I had cut the lenses out of. You don't have to be too clever to make them, just think it through before you get too excited about cutting and gluing. HINT: glue a bridge between the two lenses before you cut them in order the keep the correct alignment. Total cost was less then $50 and took a couple of hours. |
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I have to say that, like many, I first chuckled a bit when I first saw folks using belay glasses. And then I tried them. After nearly two years of using them, I'm of the opinion they're really great. If you spend any appreciable amount of time belaying, do give them a try--your neck will thank you. Maybe not now, but perhaps five or ten years down the road. (As an aside, I'm really curious if anyone has ever done a study of the long-term affects on the neck caused by belaying?) |
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Do they come in a clip-on for my normal every day glasses? I just wear a foam neck cervical collar to support my heavy head if it gets tired right now. |
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Has anyone out there in cyberspace tried activeforever.com/p-26142-a… ? |
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Have used a pair of the CU Glasses and liked them but they are made of glass and ship and break pretty easily. While using a buddies BGs to belay him a small pebble the size of a peanut M&M hit and cracked one of the lenses. They were still usable but that was lucky. For us Southern AZ chosstafarians it might be better to go with the home made ones. |
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bruno-cx wrote:Dick, I used a pair of this this weekend. Super comfortable, easy to look around the lenses. More comfortable than the DIY version. The frame seems to be a high quality sport sunglass frame.The ones you tried are the $78 Task-Vision glasses, not the $150 CU glasses? The joint you twist to invert the prisms for belaying doesn't look brittle to you? [The product is, after all, normally sold to bedridden patients and couch potatoes, not vigorous climbers.] Thanks. If so, I can buy them with confidence. -dk |
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Get a few people together and order them straight from Germany. I just paid $115 CDN for the CU's straight from the source. 3 of us went in on that order to get that price |
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Eric, you should have your friend contact Albi in Germany (sorry, I don't know his last name.) He was very helpful when my wife's pair of CU glasses needed some tlc. |
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G McG wrote:Get a few people together and order them straight from Germany. I just paid $115 CDN for the CU's straight from the source. 3 of us went in on that order to get that priceDo they come with a case that lets owners safely carry them in their gear bag with cams and ATC's? |
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Dick King wrote: Do they come with a case that lets owners safely carry them in their gear bag with cams and ATC's?They came in a clear plastic case with a molded protective foam that they fit in. I'd imagine you wouldn't want to put it UNDER all of your gear, but in with it all I'm sure it would be fine. The case seemed heavy duty enough to be able to be knocked around and dropped without damaging the glasses (I've dropped my case quite a few times on concrete and rock, and the glasses are still pristine). |
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Michael's Belay Glasses: belayglass.blogspot.com/ Don't crane your neck while belaying. Basically, one looks forward to gaze upward saving on neck strain. They allow the belayer to comfortably assume a closer position to the base of climbs which translates to a safer belay. They allow the belayer to more fully concentrate their attention to the task at hand, especially on long, protracted sessions. They accomplish this at roughly a 1/4 of the cost of the other product on the market, putting this easier into the average climbers budget. |
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David Sahalie wrote: your glasses are modified bed spectacles. bed spectacles run $30, so paying you $10 to modify them is a great deal.Sarcasm? |
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I'm gonna go with look up, and communicate lol |
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my friend has one its scary looking down at your belayer and there looking straight at the wall instead of you there also really popular in spain. i tried them on they made me dizzy not my forte. |
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Another alternative are Belay Specs (www.belayspecs.com). They feature a flexible, tough stainless steel frame that is easy to see around. They prisms are bigger than the CU glasses so you see more but they sell for nearly half the price ($80) and are made in Salt Lake City, UT. |
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I took a trad falling clinic. While in this class i caught about 20 lead falls in a row. Each catch was dynamic and backed up on toprope in case the piece blew. |